Lawyer Christian Andole is the latest sensation in the country following his impeccable submission during the BBI appeal hearing at the Court of Appeal last week.
But what many do not know is that the 26-year-old lawyer was admitted to the bar four months ago.
Andole juggled between working as a toilet cleaner at the Native Sports Bar along Thika Road and his studies. It was not an easy ride for him, but he still made it to the graduation list in 2018.
As my fellow students woke up at 8 am to head to Parklands, I was still trying to get some sleep. I would miss most of the first lessons because I would get to school late,” he told The Star.
“My shift at Natives would start at 4.30pm so I would make sure I leave Parklands campus on time to get to work on time.”
Today, he is a proud alumnus of the University of Nairobi working at Professor Albert Mumma and Company Advocates. He did his pupilage here but stuck on even after his admission to the bar.
Andole, however, was not representing his law firm when he appeared before the seven-judge bench. He appeared on behalf of “wananchi.”
“At the Court of Appeal, I needed just to break it down to make it so simple for the court and the common man to understand and even apply very simple principles. That’s why I told the court ‘I will read the Constitution in Kiswahili,” he stated.
He adds that there was no financial incentive behind his appearance in court. He did it for the people.
“What I was doing was just to represent the common mwananchi,” he notes.
Andale’s parents always wanted him to be a doctor. His father is a nurse in Baragoi, and he always said that the medical profession had ready jobs upon graduation.
But Andole’s mind switched from pursuing medicine to law courtesy of Senior Counsel Fred Ngatia.
At the time, in High School in Mang’u High School, Ngatia argued the historic Digital Migration case.
He now wants to grow his intellectual property career, although he touched on constitutional matters when he appeared before a seven-judge bench at the Court of Appeal.
